


The family

by YouTouchedMeHere



Series: A life together [3]
Category: The Bold Type
Genre: Childhood Memories, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouTouchedMeHere/pseuds/YouTouchedMeHere
Summary: Kat and Adena announce their engagement to Adena's family and then they share childhood memories.
Relationships: Kat Edison & Adena El-Amin, Kat Edison/Adena El-Amin
Series: A life together [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678756
Kudos: 12





	The family

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry for the super-late update, I didn't plan for this chapter to be so long!   
> Enjoy ❤️

"Baby you're ready?" Adena yells from the couch where she's sitting on, her fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard of the computer that's on her lap.  
"Start the call, I'll be over there in a sec!" Kat yells back from the kitchen, where she's busy trying to retrieve a glass and a bottle of rosé. Desperate times call for desperate measures and a video call with the whole El-Amin family was definitely a desperate time.  
"You don't mind right?" Kat asks, scrunching her nose and hinting at the bottle in her hand.  
"You know I don't, just... don't let my mum see it, and hurry up, they'll pick up anytime now!".  
Kat hopped on the couch next to Adena and poured herself a glass of rosé, making sure that the webcam couldn't record what she was doing.  
She managed to get a chug of her wine when the screen of the laptop in front of her lit up and 4 square frames popped out, signaling that everyone had picked up the call.  
"Salaam maman" Adena said, waving at her mom. "Hi Farideh!" Kat immediately followed.  
"Hello girls! Everything okay?" Adena smiled, quickly looking at Kat "Yes, everything's great! Hi everybody!!" Kat waved this time and a chorus of greetings from Adena's siblings filled the room.  
"So why did you call us all here? Is there something you wanted to tell us?" Farideh asked, giving Kat a quick, eloquent smirk. "Well actually...yes, we do have something to tell you!" Adena was glowing, she could barely hide the excitement that had been present on her face ever since the proposal night and Kat felt like her heart was about to burst every time she looked into her eyes. Adena turned her head towards Kat and went "You're ready?" Kat nodded her head and when the couple brought their eyes back on the screen they screamed "WE'RE ENGAGED!!" And Adena's hand immediately shoot in front of the screen to show off the ring. A wave of congratulations came from the speakers, as the lively El-Amins all clapped their hands and swept away a few tears.   
"You finally put a ring on it!!" Adena's younger sister chimed in, perfectly aware of Kat's devotion to Beyoncé. "Yes I did! Couldn't risk to let her get away!" Kat replied, draping her arm across Adena's shoulder and kissing her cheek.  
"I am so happy for you, girls! Kat did you tell her?" Adena's expression shifted to a confused one as she turned towards Kat "Tell me what?"   
"Yeah, what does maman know that we don't?" Adena's older brother asked, immediately followed by her other older brother "Do you have something else to say? And why does maman already know?", they asked those questions in a light tone, almost as if they wanted to tease Adena, who kept staring at her, rolling her eyes at her brothers' manners. "Baby what did I miss?" Kat didn't really know how to react, she didn't expect Farideh to bring up their conversation so she wasn't prepared to explain it; she looked at Farideh and told her "Well actually I haven't...I thought you wanted to be the one to tell her", then she lightly squeezed Adena's shoulder to reassure her.  
"I am so confused" Adena's younger sister said again, "Yeah, makes two of us, can you tell me what's going on?" Farideh chuckled and then proceeded to answer "Kat called me a couple of weeks ago and asked for my blessing, before asking you to marry her" Adena covered her mouth with her hand "Seriously?" She said in a whisper. Kat nodded "Yes...I know how much your mom's opinion means to you so I wanted to be sure that she was on board with this." Adena tilted her head, tears swelling in her eyes "Thank you so much for doing this" she muttered and then she pulled Kat closer to her to hug her tightly.  
"You guys are so cute it's G-R-O-S-S" Adena's younger sister jokingly said, rolling her eyes, but Adena was quick to shush her "Oh please, shut up", Farideh gasped "Adena! I taught you better than this! Be kind to your sister!"   
"Oh come on, she started"  
"Adena you should listen to maman!"  
"Maman we all know how annoying Nina can be, Adena's right!"   
"Just let her have her moment"  
"Maman tell them, they're all always mean to me!!"   
"Oh pleasee"  
"You are acting like children, Nina stop teasing your sister, boys stop teasing Nina! Kat I am so sorry, these kids sometimes just can't get along!"   
Farideh told them off but little did she know, Kat was actually amused by the situation. She loved seeing Adena with her family, she knew how much she missed her mom and her siblings and it made her heart flutter seeing her so at ease and happy whenever she spoke to them, even when they were bickering; it was obvious how much they loved and cared for each other and she secretly envied her for having had the chance to grow up with siblings, something she had always dreamed of, being an only child.  
"Oh don't worry Farideh, Nina's right we are gross" she replied, laughing and Adena pretended to get offended by that affirmation, but then she just hugged Kat and stuck her tongue out at her sister. "Oh wow very mature for someone who's getting married!" Farideh rolled her eyes at the new provocation and decided it was time to call it quits "ALRIGHT! Before you start fighting again... let's all say goodbye to the girls and leave them be. Kat, Adena I am so happy for you both, I wish I could be there to hug you! I can't wait to start planning the wedding! Kat, honey, has Adena already explained to you how a real wedding is done?" Adena's eyes widened and she shook her head "No maman, I haven't told her yet...I would like this engagement to last at least a week before she runs off, terrified of what it takes to plan a Persian wedding!" Adena explained with a chuckle. Kat smiled and simply added "I am officially scared as hell!" And then Adena's brother chimed in "Just show her the picture from my wedding and Saeed's, I'm sure she'll get the hang of it!" "I will!" And with that they all said their goodbyes, renovating their congratulations to the couple, Adena blew a kiss to her family and promised to call back soon, Kat thanked Farideh again and waved at the rest of the family and then they hung up.  
"So...was it that bad? I know my family can be a little... overwhelming" Adena tentatively asked Kat, who immediately answered "Are you kidding?! They're fun, I love the relationship you have with your siblings" Adena ducked her head down and replied "Yeah I mean, we fight, it's normal, but I would literally give my life for them and the fact that we all live far away from each other strengthened our relationship and how we act around each other. By the way I know you have only met my mom and Nina in person but are you ready to meet my brothers too?" Adena chuckled on the last part, knowing damn well how protective her brothers were of her "Oh don't worry, if I can handle a bunch of old, white, close-minded men at every board meeting, I'm pretty sure I can handle your brothers" Kat winked at her and then Adena looked at her with a smirk "You know my mom was right when she said that Persian weddings are huge...lots of people, lots of food, lots of money and particularly lots of relatives, even the far ones and the lost ends. How well do you know my family?" Kat arched her brow and put on a cocky smile "Well it may just surprise you but I actually happen to know a lot about your family. First of all Mama Farideh, she is a boss lady, just like you, she is opinionated but also kind and generous. She loves gardening and painting, and she is probably the one who passed the artistic gene on to you. She is strongly rooted in her faith but she has accepted your sexuality when she understood how happy you were being able to finally own it.  
Then we've got Darius, he's the eldest of you all, he's a doctor and he loves golfing. Classic. He's married to Esther, who is an interior designer, and they have a beautiful three year old daughter, Amira, who I assume will be our flower girl" Kat took a break to catch her breath.  
"Oh yeah she would look so cute as a flower girl! I'll tell Darius. Anyways go on, you're doing pretty good" Adena said and smirked at her.  
"Then we've got Saeed, please tell me if I'm mispronouncing any of the names. He's your other older brother, he's in the military which is why he's always away from home, and he has a witty personality. He's married to Soraya, who is a personal trainer. No kids yet"  
Adena quirked her eyebrow and commented "Impressive", then encouraged Kat to go on.  
"Last, but definitely not least, we've got Nina. Her full name is actually Haniya, but nobody calls her that, she just goes by Nina. Little one of the family, she just finished her studies to become a marine biologist. Bubbly personality, she's an overall cutie and she's basically your twin sister, like seriously you guys are like identical."  
"Hey I'm two years older, let's respect that!" Adena interrupted her, pretending to get offended.  
"Oh come on you can't tell me you don't see the resemblance!" Kat said.  
"Well be careful who you kiss at the altar, then!" Adena teased her and Kat bursted into laughter "I'm pretty sure I can recognize your lips, but just to be sure I feel like I should kiss you again, to avoid any misunderstandings". Kat leaned into Adena and captured her lips, gently tugging at the bottom lip, then pecked her again and pulled away. "So, how did I do? Did I pass the El-Amin family test?" "You actually did pretty great, but that's just my close family...we're gonna have to go through all the extended members but we've got time for that. For now I'll just need you to know my aunts" Kat frowned "Are they the homophobic ones?" Adena laughed "They are not homophobic...I mean yeah they really didn't like the idea of having a lesbian niece at first, but they eventually came around and now they don't have a problem with that. What they are is judgemental, very, very, judgemental, they will want to have a say in everything regarding the wedding, from the centerpieces to the venue, and they will not spare us their honest opinion if they won't like something we choose or did. Despite all this, aunt Azura and aunt Darya just want the best for me, I am the first niece to get married and, even though my brothers already had their weddings, it's different when you have a female getting married in the house, it's a whole different process and it can be fun once you've gotten used to it" Kat caressed her thigh and simply went "I mean if that's what it takes to make you my wife, I am open to it" Adena moved closer to her face and their noses touched "You really like that word, don't you?" Kat giggled and teased Adena, hovering her lips over her's "What? Wife? Oh hell yeah, I love that word, especially now that I can use it for you" "We're not married yet, technically you can't use it for me yet, I'm just your fiancee" Kat rolled her eyes "Okay smarty-pants, fiancee works too" and then she kissed Adena's lips, pushing her to lie down on the couch, so that she could lay on top of her.  
They began making out, Kat's hands wandered underneath Adena's top and stroke her ribcage and a satisfied sigh escaped from Adena's lips but as soon as she realized that things were getting out of hand she grabbed Kat's wrists "Mmm..yeah...we kind of...had-" she tried saying between kisses "we said we were gonna talk about the wedding" she managed to get out, cupping Kat's face and pulling away from the kiss. Kat groaned at the interruption and buried her face in Adena's neck "Do we have to do this right now?" Her voice came out muffled and Adena laughed "Yes my love, we have to do this now. If we end up having sex again we will never get anything done" She lightly scratched her head, encouraging her to get off of her so they could go back to what they were doing but Kat was not having it. "Alright if you can focus on the wedding now I'll do something that you really like later" Adena said, her voice laced with sultriness. Kat's head shoot up and her eyes lit up "Something like what?" She asked biting her lip "Whatever you want, it's up to you baby". Adena noticed how dark Kat's eyes were and was quick to add "But first we have to brainstorm some venues" Kat pecked her smile "Deal!" Then she got up from her fiancee's body and sat down next to her. Adena looked at her with an amused expression and said "You are like a kid, I just have to bribe you with sex, instead of candy" Kat laughed at the comment and shrugged her shoulders "I'll take that, and I'm sure you don't really mind that either" she winked at Adena who looked at her out of the corner of her eye "Not in the slightest".

They spent the following hour looking for the perfect venue that could host all of the 300 people they were going to invite, according to a rough list they had wrote down a couple of days before and they were able to narrow their options down to 4 different places. They started thinking about how they wanted to arrange the seating chart, who could sit next to who and who was better to be seated far away from a specific; person "Okay so my parents could sit here" Kat said, scribbling something down on a piece of paper and then she continued "And your parents could si- oh shit I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say parents I just-" Kat panicked but Adena immediately reassured her "Kat it's okay...I mean it was pretty obvious that my dad wasn't going to be at my wedding, I made my peace with it when I had to say goodbye to him forever…" she swallowed, trying to hide her shaking voice "I know... it's just...you never talk about him... about his death…" Kat reached over and held Adena's hand, giving her the time and space to open up if she wanted. They stayed quiet for a moment, Adena had her gaze fixated on the pattern of a pillow that had fallen to the floor and eventually she spoke again "You know...I used to be his little girl" her eyes glistened with tears as she continued "We would always play together, we had such a special bond...and then it ruptured as soon as I came out" a tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly swept it away. "It was as if he didn't even recognize me anymore, he wouldn't talk to me, he wouldn't look at me, I was basically dead to him. That's why I decided to leave my family so early. I was a kid but I felt like I was suffocating in that house. And that's when he decided to send me to conversion therapy. I will never forget the look in my mother's eyes after my first session: I was shaken to my core, I was traumatized and she just looked at me with tears in her eyes and I could read how powerless she felt. Soon after I made it clear that I was going to leave the country and pursue my love for photography with or without their support. And so I did. I left, started building my own life, making my own experiences and finally being able to express my sexuality. I had never felt more free." A sad smile was playing on her face, now stained by tears and Kat's heart clenched at that sight. She hated seeing her like that, especially when it was about her father.   
"When my mom told me he had gotten really sick I was torn: I didn't know whether or not I should have gone to visit him before it was too late. In the end I decided it was better for me to see him, to at least get closure." She sniffled and for a fraction of a second she looked absent, as if her mind had wandered back to an old memory and didn't know how to process it.  
"He told me he loved me. He was on his death bed and told me that he was sorry for the way he had acted all those years and for not being a good father to his little girl. He was weak and delirious and that's probably what pushed him to the point of telling me that he had accepted me for who I was. Heaven knows the tears I cried for him. Of course I forgave him, I won't hold that grudge, but at the same time I feel like I will never fully recover from the pain he caused me. I keep asking myself the same question over and over again: if a parent is not ready to accept a child for who he, she or they are, don't they simply turn into someone who just generated them? Now I'm not saying that my father was simply one side of the reason why I am alive, but I stopped being his daughter when I told him I was attracted to women and I feel like that kind of took away from him the right to call himself a dad. A parent should always give their kids the love and support they deserve, no matter what."   
"Thank you, for opening up about this. I hate seeing you cry though" Kat chimed in, pulling Adena close to her chest and hugging her small frame. She waited for her to calm down and then she couldn't help herself "You know you could be my little girl. You can even call me daddy if you want, I don't mind" Adena laughed quietly and Kat immediately regretted her words " Oh my God I'm such an idiot, sorry, bad timing, I was just trying to lighten the mood, I just wanted to ma-" Adena shushed her and got up from her position, looking into Kat's eyes "Hey it's okay! You made me laugh...you always manage to make me laugh, even when I just feel like drowning in my own tears" Kat smiled, and jokingly answered "Perks of being a clown! Anyways, let's change the subject, why don't you tell me something about your childhood? I'm dying to know what baby Adena was like!" Adena chuckled and sat up straight "Well baby Adena was...a handful. If you ask my mom she will tell you that I was hyperactive, I was always climbing trees and getting myself into trouble. Nina has always been my partner in crime, since we are so close in age. I remember once we decided to express our art on the living room wall with our crayons, I must of been 7 or 8. Our parents got so mad at us they grounded us in our room the entire afternoon. As if we thought we hadn't done enough damage, we decided to sneak out and go play to the park behind our house. While we were playing on the swing we saw our brothers running towards us yelling "Maman and Baba found out!!" I'm pretty sure I never ran that fast in my entire life." Both girls bursted into laughter and Adena covered her face with her hands "My parents were really mad at us, and of course I took the blame for taking my 5 year old sister to the park alone, so I was the only one facing the consequences of it. Despite that, it is still one of my favorite memories from my childhood" Kat smiled, happy that her fiancee had finally found her smile again.  
"What about you? Tell me something about your childhood" Kat sighed and lowered her gaze " My childhood was very different from yours. I mean I wouldn't say I had a sad childhood, I still lived in the suburbs and went to private schools since kindergarten, but I also grew up as an only child and my parents were always busy with their patients. I had nannies but I preferred playing alone which is probably why I had so many imaginary friends! Don't tell my parents, they could freak out knowing that they never realized that their precious little girl started talking to herself when she was 5!" Adena laughed and pretended to seal her lips.  
" I was a quiet kid, I rarely threw tantrums just because I knew that if I had, I would have had to go through the whole "let's sit down and understand why you acted like that" speech and I hated it. I just wanted to be a normal kid, get in trouble for breaking a vase while playing with a ball and that kind of stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents but I feel like they kind of raised me under a glass dome. And that's probably why I became a rebel in elementary school.   
There was a teacher that I really hated when I was in third grade and one day we were doing PE and she sort of made fun of one of my best friends, telling him that he ran "like a girl"; I got so mad I took a run-up towards her and punched her in the belly!" Adena gasped "You did not!!" Kat laughed and replied "Yes I did, and I was very proud of myself! Come on, I was 8, how much do you think I could have hurt her? She was definitely overreacting! But still, I had to apologise to her and I can still see the disappointment in my parents' eyes when they arrived to pick me up" Adena smirked at her and narrowed her eyes "So what I understand from this, is that I am not the first person you punched someone for? Kat Edison, I feel betrayed!" Kat threw her head back in laughter and answered "You may not have been the first one, but you are definitely the most important one!" Adena fanned herself "Wow, I'm flattered" then her gaze lingered on Kat, dragging it up and down and the girl immediately felt that shift in her fiancee's attitude.  
"So...how about we close this…" she leaned over and closed the laptop on the coffee table, then continued "and we just call it a night? That way you can keep your little promise" Adena locked eyes with Kat's lust-filled gaze and replied "You have been really patient, you deserve a treat. And a promise is a promise" Kat patted her lap and went "Come here, babygirl" Adena bit her lip "You know what that word does to me" she said while she climbed on top of her girlfriend. "Do I?" Kat said, her eyes staring at Adena's lips, while her hands settled on her waist. Adena pecked her, pressing her lips on Kat's for a second too long "So...what do you want to do?" She asked, her voice dropping to a lower tone  
"Well I could tell you or I could just show you".

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, let me know what you think about this in the comments :)!


End file.
